Dual flow gutter assembly

ABSTRACT

A gutter cover assembly for use with conventional gutters to separate debris from rainwater that enters the gutter. The assembly includes a fascia board shield with a diverter, a cover support bracket which supports the cover from beneath the cover in a position spaced apart from the fascia shield and gutter, said bracket not contacting the gutter front wall whereby rainwater may enter the gutter through the space between the gutter and cover and through the space between the fascia board and cover.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to gutter assemblies for handlingrainwater runoff from roof structures and, particularly, to gutterswhere the gutter trough is provided with a cover to separate debris fromrainwater and prevent the debris from entering the gutter. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to the dual flow type ofgutter cover assembly wherein the gutter cover may be positioned forentry of rainwater from both the front and rear edges of the guttercover so that debris is cleaned from both front and rear walls of thegutter.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There are numerous prior art gutter assemblies which have as theirobject the separation of leaves, pine needles, and other debris fromrainwater so that the debris does not enter and clog the gutter. Onecommonly used method is to place mesh screens, screen wire, or similarfiltering devices over the gutter trough but this method has generallymet with only limited success as leaves and pine needles tend to clingto the mesh or screen. The mesh or screen has, in some approaches, beenhinged so that it can be flipped upwardly should cleaning of the gutterbe necessary; but obviously, debris still tends to accumulate on thesetypes of covers and finds its way into the trough.

Another approach to the problem of separating debris from rainwaterinvolves the use of an impervious cover structure which provides acontinuous opening at or under the outer lip of the gutter cover frontedge for rainwater to enter the gutter and which opening is typicallytoo small for debris to be carried into the gutter by rainwater. Onesuch covered gutter arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,435which issued on Dec. 8, 1998 to Gary A. Knudson. The Knudson patentdescribes a fastening support device which holds not only the guttercover but the front edge of the lower gutter in position. This requiresthat the gutter must be specially designed so that the support willsecure both the cover and the front wall of the gutter to maintain adesired spacing. Accordingly, it is one object of the present inventionto provide a gutter cover support bracket that does not requiresupporting or stabilizing contact with the front wall of a guttertrough.

In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide agutter cover and support device which may be used with conventional,“off the shelf” or “standard” gutters, that is, with any of thecommercially available gutters sold through outlets and vendors therebyproviding a “universal” gutter cover and support device.

Another prior art gutter assembly is shown in Publication No. U.S.2003/0070366 A1 which was published on Apr. 17, 2003 with Gerald W.Beyers as the inventor. In this configuration a gutter cover is shownwhich provides for dual flow, that is, flow of rainwater down both therear wall of the gutter and flow down the front wall. The importance offlow down the back wall is to provide a flow of water on both walls sothat debris that does get into the gutter trough does not collect inwhat would otherwise be a stagnant area at the rear wall. Thus, allwalls of the gutter, namely, both sides and the bottom are subjected toflowing water. However, in the Beyers arrangement, the gutter covercomprises two ridges with a flat valley between the two ridges and itappears that debris is likely to accumulate in the valley region. Also,the gutter requires a special design in which the cover must snap intothe gutter lips. Therefore, it is a further object of the presentinvention to provide a cover arrangement wherein debris will readilyslide or fall off the cover.

Another gutter system for diverting debris is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.6,681,527 B2 which issued on Jan. 27, 2004 to Michael J. Baker. In thisarrangement a gutter cap is positioned over the trough at apre-determined angle to catch rainwater flow from the roof. Again,connection to and support of the lower gutter trough assembly isnecessary and a two-piece gutter support bracket is required.Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide asimplified gutter cover support bracket, and one which does not requiresupporting contact with the gutter trough walls.

These objects expressed above including other advantages areaccomplished by my invention which is summarized below.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect the invention is a dual flow gutter assembly comprising acover for separating water from debris as rainwater enters a gutter, aunique support bracket for the cover, and a fascia board shield with adiverter flange. The cover and shield are preferably elongated wherebythe cover is carried by a multiplicity of support brackets. The guttermay be one of standard or off-the-shelf design. Such gutters aresignificantly cheaper than those that are sold as specialized gutterswith leaf-guarding or debris separating abilities. In another aspect theinvention is a gutter assembly comprising:

-   -   a) a fascia board shield attached to and covering the outer        surface of a fascia board, said shield having an upper end from        which a diverter flange extends outwardly;    -   b) a gutter having front, bottom and rear walls defining a        gutter trough, said rear wall being mounted with the fascia        board shield positioned between the gutter rear wall and fascia        board;    -   c) a gutter cover positioned over said trough, and below said        diverter flange, said cover being spaced apart from said shield        and gutter, to permit rainwater to flow therebetween, said        gutter having a smooth planar central body, a front edge folded        under a portion of the main body and terminating in a dip from        which water can flow into said trough, and a rear edge bent        under a portion of the main body; and    -   d) a support bracket mounted on the fascia board shield above        the rear wall of the gutter, said bracket supportingly engaging        the underside of said cover at the front fold and at the rear        bend whereby said bracket does not contact the front wall of        said gutter and maintains said cover in its spaced apart        position spaced apart from the gutter and fascia shield.

In still another aspect the invention is an improvement provided byanother aspect of the invention includes a fascia board shield having anoutwardly extending diverter flange, said shield being adapted to beattached to the fascia board adjacent or under a roof edge so that thediverter flange will be positioned above the gutter cover which is to beinstalled. The gutter cover has a main body with a downwardly turnedrear edge bending under the main body of the cover to define a lockingflange. The front edge is downwardly turned in a smooth curve so thatthe front edge making a turn in the range of about 120° to less than180° thereby defining a mounting notch which is accessible from beneaththe cover. The cover is carried by a support bracket having apositioning arm supporting said cover at the locking flange and at themounting notch, said arm positioning the cover so that the rear edge ofthe cover is spaced apart from the gutter, and from the fascia boardshield to define a rear water flow inlet therebetween, said rear inletspace being covered by and being spaced apart from the diverter flangewhereby a portion of the rainwater will flow into the gutter from theupper side of the cover through the rear inlet. The arm of the supportbracket further positions the front folded edge of the cover dto extendabove the front of the gutter so that it is spaced apart from the lip ofthe front gutter wall to define a front rainwater flow inlettherebetween whereby rainwater will flow into the gutter by clinging tothe cover by surface tension as it flows around the folded edge, saidfront inlet being sufficiently narrow so as to prevent debris fromentering therethrough.

In yet another aspect, the invention is a gutter assembly for separatingdebris from rainwater when mounted on fascia board adjacent a roof edge,said assembly comprising a gutter having elongated front, rear, andbottom walls and an open top to define a gutter trough; an elongatedfascia shield mounted on said fascia board to substantially cover theexterior thereof; said fascia shield having a diverter flange extendinghorizontally outwardly away from the fascia board and sloppingdownwardly; a gutter cover having an elongated substantially planar orslightly bowed central body that is tilted towards the front gutter wallwith an upper surface over which water can flow, said cover having adownwardly curved front edge that flows under said upper surface todefine a mounting notch therewith, said cover having a rear edge thatslopes downwardly from the central body at greater than a right angle; aplurality of support brackets spaced apart along the fascia shield forpositioning and supporting said cover above the gutter trough, eachbracket being adapted to support said cover from the underside of thecover, each bracket having a generally rectangular profile with upperand lower positioning arm members defining the upper and lower sides ofthe rectangular profile, said arm members being connected by an endmember, said lower arm member being longer than the upper arm member andterminating in an approximate right angle bend which forms a securingflange, said flange forming a mounting surface secured to the fasciaboard through the fascia board shield, said end member being connectedto each of said arm members at a right angle, the upper arm memberterminating in a straight edge which securely engages the bottom of theright angle bend of the rear of said cover for securing the cover in aposition spaced apart from the gutter rear wall below said diverter andspaced from the fascia shield so that rainwater flowing from saiddiverter can flow between the cover and fascia shield into the gutter,the other end of said upper arm member together with the lower armmember and the connecting end being wedged into said mounting notch ofsaid cover to secure same in a position spaced from the lip of the frontwall of the gutter forming a narrow space or inlet so that a portion ofthe rainwater may flow from the cover into the gutter without carryingdebris with it.

In a still further aspect the invention is a support bracket or meansthat supports a gutter cover out of contact with the gutter and fasciaboard by supporting the cover from beneath and spaced apart from thegutter and fascia. The support bracket may have positioning arms thatare formed from a single piece of material or the support means maycomprise separately mounted members, one for the rear of the cover andthe other for the front, both means mounted from the fascia board. Thesupport bracket supports the cover without contacting the gutterresulting in simplified installation of the cover. If elongated runs arenecessary between support brackets spacers may be used between the coverlip and the gutter lip which do not contact the support bracket.

The foregoing described invention may be better understood by referenceto the below described drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

One preferred embodiment which is designed to carry out the invention assummarized above will hereinafter be described and shown with otherfeatures in the drawings and description below.

The invention will be more readily understood from a reading of thefollowing description with reference to the accompanying drawings thatform a part of this application. The example and embodiment of theinvention that is shown in these drawings is by way of illustration andnot by way of limitation. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a gutter assembly of a preferredembodiment of the present invention showing the gutter cover in positionand installed over a conventional gutter;

FIG. 2 is a schematic section in elevation of the gutter assembly ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of an embodiment of a gutter coveraccording to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a support bracket according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 a is a partial section view showing a support bracket accordingto the invention secured to a fascia board through the fascia shield ofthe invention;

FIG. 4 b shows a support bracket according to the invention securing thefront of the gutter cover;

FIG. 5 shows one embodiment of the diverter flange of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of a diverter flange according to thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now in more detail to the drawings, one preferred embodimentof the invention will be described.

In FIG. 1, gutter assembly 1 is shown attached to fascia board 2. Thegutter, which may be a conventional gutter, comprises gutter bottom wall4, front wall 5, lip 6 at the top of the front gutter wall, and rearwall 7 that is mounted on the fascia board through fascia board shield.The bottom, front, and rear walls define the gutter trough 8 (See FIG.2).

Continuing with FIG. 1, fascia board shield 3 is shown attached to andcovering the fascia board 2 behind the rear wall 7 of the gutter. Inthis embodiment, the top of shield 3 coincides with the top of thefascia board so that no space is exposed and the fascia board isprotected from the weather. The fascia board shield can extend behindand below the gutter rear wall and terminates in the bottom shield 24which covers the bottom side of the fascia board. The shield is providedwith diverter flange 23 that extends outwardly over the gutter cover 15and slopes downwardly at greater than a right angle or more than a 90°angle, preferably at about a 120° angle (clockwise from vertical) sothat water coming from above may fall onto the gutter cover 15. Supportbracket 9 which is wedged into the mounting notch 16′ formed by gutterfront fold or bend 16 secures the front of the cover. The main body 19of the gutter cover 15 is substantially planar but with a slight bow inthe main body area and has a slight bend or slope towards the rearbeginning at about a point below the end of the diverter flange 23, thatis, at about the point rain droplets 20 falling from diverter 23 willfall on main body 19.

Turning now to FIG. 2, the flow of the rainwater droplets 20 isillustrated as they flow down the roof 26 onto the diverter 23 andthence to the cover 15. The fascia shield 3 extends upwardly to the topof the fascia board 2 to fully protect the fascia board from any contactwith rainwater. The fascia board shield preferably may be formed fromaluminum sheet or, from extruded plastic such as polyethylene,polypropylene or polyvinyl chloride to provide a substantially rigid andcorrosion resistant diverter and shield.

Continuing with the description of FIG. 2, and following the path of therain drops 20 as they move across the diverter and fall onto the cover15 as mentioned above, at about the point where the rain drops fall ontothe cover, the substantially planar yet slightly bowed cover body 19begins a slight downward tilt so that the major portion of the rainwaterwill flow frontward but a portion will also flow to the rear. As thewater that flows to the rear moves over the gutter cover body 19 tolocking flange area 18 it continues and drops into the trough 8 thusproviding water flow adjacent the rear wall 7 as the drop falls into thecollected rainwater 21. The major portion of the rainwater flows to thefront of body 19, around the fold 16, and down the drip lip 17 where italso drips into or flows into the collected rainwater 21 in the guttertrough 8. The surface tension of the rainwater will tend to make itcling to the upper folded surface of the cover as it flows around thebend in the fold 16. The bend or fold at 16 forms mounting notch 16′which is further shown and described in FIG. 3.

The support bracket which is shown in FIG. 1, comprises upper and lowerpositioning arm members 10 and 11 and these members terminate to thefront in end or connecting member 12. In this side view the profile ofthe bracket 9 is substantially rectangular. As can be seen, the bracketarm members and end member wedge at the front end into the mountingnotch and at the rear the upper positioning arm member 10 terminates inand is locked into the downwardly bent edge of the cover 15 which isbent at greater than a right angle to form the locking flange 18. Thesupport bracket also has, at the rear end of the positioning arm member11, a right angle, downward bend forming a flange 13 (see FIG. 4 a)which is the mounting flange for the bracket onto the fascia board oronto the fascia shield. As described above, a preferred embodiment ofthe bracket comprises two positioning arm members, the lower arm member11 and upper arm member 10, but these can also be considered to be onecontinuous positioning arm for the bracket which wedges into themounting notch 16′ and into the locking flange 18; or, for example, inan alternate embodiment, end member 12 can be an elbow that supportinglyengages the mounting notch 16′. The support bracket 9 is positioned sothat the locking flange 18 is spaced apart from the fascia shield 3 andthis opening or space defines the rear rainwater inlet. In the front,the space between the drip lip 17 and the gutter lip 6 is defined as thefront rainwater flow space or inlet. The space between the end of thediverter flange 23 and the top of the cover 15 is a narrow spacing so asto prevent debris from entering between diverter 23 and cover 15.Likewise, the space between the drip lip 17 and the gutter front walllip 6 is narrow so that there is very little opportunity for any debristo enter the gutter trough area 8. As an example for both inlets, thespacing is preferably about ¼″ but may vary from less than about ⅛″ togreater than about ⅜″.

The fascia shield 3, support bracket 9, and cover 15 are usually theonly parts necessary for any homeowner to install in addition toconventional, “off-the-shelf” gutters in order to enjoy the benefit of aprotective cover thus eliminating the necessity of buying high-priced,gutter and cover combinations. While in FIG. 1 a mounting screw 30 isshown fastening rear wall 7 to the fascia board and such screw is forillustration purposes and should extend into the structural timbers ofthe building which are to the left of the fascia board 2 in FIG. 2. Amore common means of supporting a conventional gutter is by employing aspike and spacer tube or member whereby at intervals the spike is driventhrough a pre-drilled hole in gutter lip 6 into and through the fasciaboard 2. The spike usually goes through a spacer that spans the guttertrough and covers the spike or screw so that the front wall will not beinadvertently bent while driving the spike. However, these areconventional installation procedures. The three additional componentsfor the present invention, namely the gutter cover, the support bracket,and the fascia shield are described in more detail hereinbelow.

In FIG. 3, the cover 15 with the central main body 19 is shown in apartial perspective view. The front of the main body is folded under ina smooth fold wherein one part of the fold is doubled back providing thespace 16′ which is the mounting notch and the front edge continues andthen reverses its curvature to form the drip lip 17. The cover may beformed from aluminum sheet which is rolled and bent into the shape asshown having a locking flange 18 in the rear which is formed withgreater than a right angle bend. The radius of curvature of a portion ofthe fold at the point where the arrow “R” is directed (See FIG. 4 b) mayvary with the manufacturing process and material used and with thedimension of the support bracket, particularly the height of member 12.One preferred radius is in the order of “ 1/2”. (Arrow “R” isrepresentatiave only and is not meant to indicate proportion.) Thematerial of the cover should have resiliency or “spring back” to stayrigidly in place when snapped onto the support bracket. A satisfactorythickness of the cover material can be readily determined by thoseskilled in the art.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 4 a a preferred embodiment of the supportbracket is shown in greater detail. The upper positioning arm member 10,which terminates in a straight edge at the rear and into thesubstantially vertical end or connecting member 12 at the front end, isformed with a predetermined length so that it will fit snugly from thebend of the locking flange 18 and into the mounting notch 16′. Theheight H of the vertical member 12 is also selected so that it is ofgreater length than the diameter, that is, greater than 2R (FIG. 4 b) tosecure wedge into notch 16′. The material of the cover allows sufficientresiliency to stretch and hold onto the bracket. In one preferredembodiment, the height of the connecting member will be about 1⅜″ butthis will vary to give a secure, snug fit into mounting notch 16′. Theupper surface of the arm member 10 may also be provided with a resilientcovering material such as a layer of rubber or plastic which may beribbed to further secure and restrain the gutter cover and preventmovement thereof. The mounting bracket 9 is preferably formed from onecontinuous piece of material and may be formed of a strip of metal suchas aluminum or steel bent as shown. Alternately bracket 9 can be formedfrom a plastic or polymeric material such as a relatively rigidthermoplastic, e.g., a high density polyethylene, polypropylene, or PVC.These plastic parts are preferably formed by injection molding. Witheither metal or plastic or a combination thereof bracket 9 can be formedin more than one piece.

In assembling the parts, the fascia shield 3 is first mounted orinstalled over the fascia board 2, the gutters installed and the bracket9 is secured as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Next, the cover 15 is installedby pushing the locking flange 18 over and onto the distal end of armmember 10 and then rotates the cover downwardly to lock the fold 16 ontoand over the member 12 and snap it in place. The bracket arms 10 and 11and end member 12 will wedge securely into notch 16′ as shown in FIG. 4b.

In FIG. 5, the fascia board shield 3′ is shown, which is one embodimentand, as mentioned previously, can be made of extruded plastic materialor sheet aluminum. The shield body 22 has diverter 26 formed at itsupper end. In FIG. 6 a preferred embodiment is shown in a “Z”arrangement. The main body 25 is planar to lie flat against the fasciaboard. The upper end is bent to form diverter shield 23. The anglethrough which the upper end has been bent to form diverter 23 is greaterthan 90° so that when in place the water flows readily across and downthe diverter 23 onto the cover 15. At its bottom end, fascia shield 3 isbent at approximately 90° to form a bottom protector 24 for the fasciaboard.

Summarizing by referring to all figures, in a preferred installation,fascia board shield 3 is first mounted by nailing or screwing it to thefascia board 2. The shield is preferably provided with mounting holes(not shown) for nails or screws that should, of course, be aluminum.Next, brackets 9 are installed. A chalk line or laser guided line isdrawn on the shield at an appropriate slope towards the point where adownspout will be located. The brackets are then installed by drillingthrough the shield 3 and securing brackets 9 using screws 29 andoptional washers to seal the drilled hole. The bottom edge of bracketsupport flange 13 now acts as a guide in positioning the top of gutterback wall 7 to insure that the gutter is correctly sloped. Once thegutter rear wall 7 is secured to the fascia board through screw 30 orthrough spikes (not shown), the cover may be installed by hooking therear cover locking flange 18 over the positioning arm member 10 and thenpulling the cover 15 over and around the bracket end member 12 so thatthe cover snaps into place with drip lip 17 positioned above gutter lip6. The gutter cover is now ready to function as illustrated in FIG. 2.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described usingspecific terms, the description is for illustrative purposes only, andit is to be understood that changes and variations may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit or scope of the following claims.

1. A dual flow gutter assembly comprising: a) a fascia board shieldattached to and covering the outer surface of a fascia board, saidshield having an upper end from which a diverter flange extendsoutwardly; b) a gutter having front, bottom and rear walls defining agutter trough, said rear wall being mounted with the fascia board shieldpositioned between the gutter rear wall and the fascia board; c) agutter cover positioned over said trough, and below said diverterflange, said cover being spaced apart from said shield and gutter, topermit rainwater to flow therebetween, said gutter having a smoothcentral body, a front edge folded under a portion of the main body andterminating in a dip from which water can flow into said trough, and arear edge bent under a portion of the main body; and d) a supportbracket mounted on the fascia board shield above the rear wall of thegutter, said bracket supportingly engaging the underside of said coverat the front fold and at the rear bend whereby said bracket does notcontact the front wall of said gutter and maintains said cover in itsspaced apart position spaced apart from the gutter and fascia shield. 2.The gutter assembly of claim 1 wherein the gutter cover and fascia boardare formed from materials selected from the group consisting of aluminumand polymeric materials.
 3. The gutter assembly of claim 1 wherein thesupport bracket is of one piece construction.
 4. The gutter assembly ofclaim 1 wherein the fascia shield and gutter cover are elongated and thecover is carried by a multiplicity of support brackets positioned atspaced apart intervals along said fascia board shield.
 5. The gutterassembly of claim 1 wherein said support bracket is formed by bending analuminum strip.
 6. In a dual flow gutter cover assembly for separatingdebris from rainwater wherein a cover is positioned over the guttertrough, an improved cover support bracket for supporting an elongatedgutter cover without supporting or stabilizing contact with the gutter,said cover having downwardly folded front edge and a downwardly bentrear edge said bracket comprising: a) a supporting flange member adaptedto be mounted on fascia board or fascia board shield above the rear wallof a gutter; b) a lower positioning arm member having distal andproximal ends, said member being attached to said support flange at itssaid arm member's proximal end, said member extending outwardly from thesupport flange substantially across the gutter trough; c) a connectingmember attached to the distal end of said lower positioning member, saidconnecting member having upper and lower ends extending generallyvertically away from said trough, the height of said member beingselected to secure the front of said cover in the fold underneath thecover; d) an upper positioning arm member having proximal and distalends attached to the upper end of said connecting member at its proximalend and extending across the gutter trough, said upper positioning armmember being shorter in length than said lower arm member, said lengthbeing selected so that the distal end of said upper arm member willsupportingly engage the lower side of the rear bend of said coverwhereby, when mounted said bracket securely positions said cover oversaid trough.
 7. The support bracket of claim 6 wherein said bracket isformed from one continuous piece of material.
 8. The support bracket ofclaim 7 wherein said bracket is formed from metal.
 9. The supportbracket of claim 8 wherein the metal from which said bracket is formedis aluminum.
 10. The support bracket of claim 7 wherein said material isa polymeric material.
 11. In a dual flow gutter assembly having a coverover the gutter trough for separating rainwater from debris as rainwaterenters a gutter the improvement comprising: a) a fascia board shieldhaving an outwardly extending diverter flange, said shield being adaptedto be attached to fascia board so that the diverter flange will bepositioned above the gutter cover; b) a gutter cover having a downwardlybent rear edge defining a locking flange and having a downwardly foldedfront edge defining a mounting notch accessible from beneath said cover;and c) a support bracket having a positioning arm supporting said coverat the locking flange and at the mounting notch without being insupporting contact with gutter, said arm positioning the cover so thatthe rear edge of the cover is spaced apart from the gutter, fasciaboard, and shield to define a rear water inlet therebetween, said rearinlet being covered by and being spaced apart from the diverter flangewhereby a portion of the rainwater flowing from the diverter flange canflow into the gutter from the upper side of the cover through said rearinlet, said arm further positioning the front folded edge of the coverso that said folded edge extends above the front of the gutter spacedapart from the lip of the front gutter wall to define a front rainwaterinlet whereby rainwater will flow into the gutter over the folded edgeand down the drip lip, said inlet being sufficiently small so as toprevent debris from entering therethrough.
 12. The gutter assembly ofclaim 11 wherein said support bracket is adapted to be positioned on thefascia shield above the rear wall of the gutter.
 13. The gutter assemblyof claim 12 wherein the arm of said support bracket comprises upper andlower positioning members connected at one end by an end member, saidend member adapted to secure the front folded edge of the cover and theupper positioning member adapted to secure the rear bent edge of thecover.
 14. The gutter assembly of claim 11 wherein said support bracketis formed of one piece of material.
 15. In a dual flow gutter assemblyfor separating debris from rainwater, said assembly having a gutter withrear, bottom, and front walls defining a trough, the gutter beingattached through its rear wall to a fascia board below the edge of aroof, said trough being covered by a gutter cover, the improvementcomprising: a) a fascia shield attached to and covering a substantialportion of the fascia board adjacent the gutter, said shield having adiverter flange positioned above said cover to divert debris andrainwater away from the fascia and onto the cover; b) said gutter coverhaving central, planar body with a folded under front edge defining amounting notch beneath said body, said front edge terminating in a dripedge, the rear edge of said body being bent downwardly at greater than aright angle to form a locking flange; and, c) a support bracket securedto the fascia board, said bracket having no supporting nor securingcontact with the gutter and having positioning arm members forsupporting said cover at the mounting notch and at said locking flange,said arm members positioning said cover so that the rear edge of thecover is spaced apart from the fascia shield with said space beingcovered by the diverter flange, the front edge of said cover extendingoutwardly above out of contact with the gutter being spaced apart fromthe front edge of the lip of the gutter whereby rainwater will cling tothe cover and flow into in the gutter while the entry of debris will beprevented.
 16. The gutter assembly of claim 15 wherein the fascia boardshield covers the surface of the fascia board and includes a flangecovering the bottom of the fascia board.
 17. In a dual flow gutterassembly having front, rear, and bottom walls defining an open guttertrough, the front wall having an upper outer lip, and the rear wallbeing attached to a fascia board adjacent a roof, the improvement forseparating rainwater from debris comprising: a) a fascia board shieldpositioned between said fascia board and said rear wall and the edge ofthe roof, said shield having an outwardly and slightly downwardlyextending diverter flange; and in b) a mounting bracket attached to thefascia board above said rear wall and adjacent said shield, said brackethaving upper and lower arm members connected at one end by asubstantially vertical connecting member; c) an elongated gutter coverhaving a main body that is slightly bowed and tilted to the front,gutter wall, a locking flange extending downwardly along the rear edgeof said main body at an angle greater than a right angle to the plane ofthe main body defining a locking flange, and an under folded front edgeextending along said main body, the fold of said front edge continuingunder said main body in a predetermined radius of curvature, to form amounting notch therewith, said edge further continuing under said mainbody and reversing its curvature to form and terminate in a rainwaterdrip lip from which rainwater may flow into the trough, the upper andlower positioning arm and connecting members of said bracketco-operatively acting to secure said cover at said mounting notch.
 18. Adual flow gutter assembly for separating debris from rainwater whenmounted on fascia board adjacent a roof, said assembly comprising: a) agutter having elongated front, rear, and bottom walls and an open topdefining a gutter trough, said rear wall being attached to said fasciaboard; b) an elongated fascia shield mounted on said fascia boardbetween the rear wall of the gutter and said fascia board, said fasciashield having a diverter flange extending horizontally outwardly awayfrom the fascia board and sloping downwardly; c) a gutter cover havingan elongated substantially planar central body with an upper surfaceover which water can flow, said cover having a downwardly curved frontedge that folds under said surface to define a mounting notch therewith,said cover having a rear edge that bends downwardly from the centralbody at an angle greater than a right angle to form a locking flange; d)a plurality of support brackets spaced apart along the fascia shield forpositioning and supporting said cover above gutter trough, each bracketbeing adapted to support said cover from the underside of the cover,each bracket having a generally rectangular profile defining upper andlower positioning members, said end member, said lower member beinglonger than the upper member and terminating in a support flange, saidflange forming a mounting surface secured to the fascia board throughsaid shield, the upper member terminating an edge which securely engagesthe bottom of the locking flange for securing the cover in a positionspaced apart from the gutter rear wall below said diverter and from thefascia shield so that rainwater flowing from said diverter can flowbetween the cover and fascia shield into the gutter trough, the otherend of said upper member together with the lower member and being wedgedinto said mounting notch of said cover to secure same in a positionspaced from the lip of the front wall of the gutter thereby forming anarrow separation space so that rainwater may flow from the cover intothe gutter without carrying debris with it.